The present invention relates to a bottle with thermally shielded body.
It is known that white wines, particularly sparkling and effervescent wines, must be kept at low temperature, in the order of ten degrees above zero.
This occurs essentially because of some particular requirements which are typical of these wines: a first one is technical and is linked to the fact that at high temperatures, when the bottle is uncorked, there is a considerable escape of gas and beverage; a second one is organoleptic and is linked to the fact that the gas contained in the wine must be retained in it as much as possible so that its taste and fragrance are optimum for consumption (at high temperature, the gas tends to escape when the bottle is opened); and a third one which is caused by the fact that the opening shock, and therefore the stirring of the wine when the cork exits, must be as small as possible, especially if there is sediment on the bottom of the bottle.
For such reasons, before drinking sparking and effervescent white wines it is customary to chill the bottles in a refrigerator and then place them in containers, such as ice buckets or insulated thermal containers, commonly known as isothermic bucket, in order to reduce the coefficient of heat exchange with the outside.
These requirements are also felt, albeit to a lesser extent, for red wines, for which the optimum drinking temperature is higher (slightly lower than room temperature) and therefore in these cases, too, the use of isothermic buckets can be important.
Similar problems can in any case be observed for other beverages, particularly carbonated ones or more generally for all liquids which, after being preserved at low temperature, are left at room temperature for a certain period of time.
Containers of various shapes are already known which are thermally shielded by virtue of the presence of a double wall which forms an interspace along their entire extension, but the embodiments are particularly constructively complicated and entail long and troublesome production methods which are unsuitable for large-scale industrial manufacturing and for providing a product which is commercially competitive, in view of the low cost that characterizes the bottles commonly used to contain wines.
Containers made of ceramic or porcelain are also known which comprise an inner vessel, which is substantially bottle-shaped and thus has a hollow body with a closed bottom and an upper shaping which forms a tapered portion that ends with a mouth for introducing or pouring a liquid, and an outer vessel, which encloses the body of the inner vessel and is gently blended and monolithically joined thereto in the region where tapering begins.
The two containers are first produced as prebaked semifinished parts and are then assembled, glazed and subjected to final baking.
In this case, too, the process is long and work-intensive and in any case the containers are not suitable for use to contain wines for a long time, because the shape and the materials (ceramic and porcelain) do not allow corking of the upper mouth, which entails forcing the insertion of the cork in the upper mouth with an axial force of up to 140 kg, and also because they are not suitable to withstand, in the case of sparkling wines, the internal pressures that develop over time before consumption.
Such containers can be used to contain beverages poured into them shortly before consumption.
FR-A-1 552 060 discloses a bottle with a base adapted for supporting the bottom of the bottle and for being used as a drinking cup by receiving liquid from the bottle. In certain cases, the base may provide a thermal insulation for the bottle.
GB-A-1 197 596 discloses a bottle which has a cup preferably formed of thin-walled plastics material removably fitted over the bottom portion of the bottle for receiving the liquid contents of the bottle.